X-Message-Number: 9222 Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 04:53:07 -0800 From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #9214 - #9221 References: <> In Message #9220, on Fri, 27 Feb 1998 22:37:14, Charles Platt wrote: > On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Paul Wakfer wrote: > > > executed for expediency and better interface with the establishment university research > > institute where it is being conducted, by an already approved 501(c)(3) corporation called > > the Institute Of Neural Cryobiology (IONC). > > I assume the purpose of a 501(c)3 entity is to avoid taxes. Therefore, my > question about taxes was relevant. Charles, I am certain that you are an intelligent and perceptive man (at least, I was), so I do not understand what you are trying to accomplish here. You must know very well, that whatever entity executes the Prometheus Project research will not pay any taxes for *20 years* automatically because it will have no net income after research expenses are deducted (if indeed it has any "income" in the technical sense at all). This will be true whether the the organization is a for-profit corporation, not-for-profit corporation (with or without 501(c)(3)), partnership, limited liability corporation, sole proprietorship, statutory trust, common-law trust, church, or private individual (did I miss any?). The purpose of a 501(c)(3) (BTW, this is the official bracketing used by the IRS) entity, is to be able to give receipts for donations which the donor may be able to deduct from his or her taxable income. But, I will go further in amplifying my explanation of the phrase "expediency and better interface". Expediency: While the Full Length Life Society (FLLS) will carry on its existence, mission and 501(c)(3) application, in order to assuage the concerns of the potential donors to the hippocampal brain slice project (HBSP) that they are *certain* to end up with a tax deductible receipt, once I realized that IONC was already 501(c)(3) approved, I decided to take up Thomas' offer to use it. (This should not have been a concern to any trusting donor, first of all because one does not include ones tax receipt with one's tax return, but only needs to have it to produce if one is audited and secondly because I had stated to all of them that I would *guarantee* the tax deductibility of their donation. By this last, I meant that *if* they did not get a valid receipt, and *if* they got audited, *then* I personally would pay all costs that there not having a valid receipt would incur.) Better interface: The entity which is relating to the University Research Institute (URI) must not have any possible connection to cryonics or even suspended animation for the purposes of living a normal lifetime. This is a mandatory requirement by the research professor of pathology who will make available the funding from the URI. Even the name FLLS was problematic in this respect, and I was planning on using another DBA name for the interface. IONC, however, solves the problem both with its name and the purposes enshrined in its bylaws which describe it as an organization supporting all possible kinds of work relating to cryopreserving neural tissue for all possible purposes. All the types of work and purposes are listed, however, no mention is made of *anything* which sounds like cryonics or suspended animation. I believe this is the perfect vehicle to begin and to carry on, if that turns out to be feasible, a connection with URI. Furthermore, I believe that there is a very good chance to obtain monetary support for its research goals from various individuals, and even foundations which wish to support neuroscience and neuromedical research, but would never in their wildest dreams want to support cryonics or suspended animation research. As soon as we get the HBSP started, I intend to promote IONC completely separate from Prometheus or cryonics, with those very goals in mind. IONC will have its own web site with no links whatsoever to anything related to Prometheus or cryonics or life-extension (although these are welcome to link to it). > I note that you have not really > answered my general question, as to whether you are relying on the > "Trust in God's Law!" Hardy twins for legal advice. Are you? Charles, I thought by now that you knew that I rely solely on MY OWN judgment for everything. Isn't that what you constantly criticize me for? :-) > > Charles, if you are not happy being a pledger for whatever reason, you are free to > > withdraw your pledge with my "blessing" at any time. > > I thought I put my $10,000 pledge on hold a few months ago. Unless I misunderstood, all that you said was that you were not putting any of it into the HBSP. Many pledgers are also not doing so and that is entirely their prerogative since the conditions under which they made the pledge have not yet been met. Certainly, they are *not* met by the HBSP. On the other hand, there is one donation to the HBSP from someone who is not a pledger to PP. This current project is a beginning to the greater body of research, but otherwise it is really quite distinct. I will take it that this latest information from you means that you are not now a pledger and I will take you off the list. > I regret that > I don't have a lot of confidence in your Project right now, although of > course circumstances may change. I think that you are forgetting that it is a fully conditional pledge that only requires approval (and confidence) at the time the conditions are met. The pledges are meant not as a statement that "everything looks great right now", but as a statement that "if everything does eventually look great, this is the amount of money which I would contribute". I guess very few have ever really understood that. Perhaps that is why the pledges have been so few and far between.Frankly, because so much has changed with regard to the potential plans of who would do the work and how it would operate, that I don't have that much confidence in its viable continuation at this moment. The worst of these changes is that although I wrote in Cryomsg # 8415 on July 22, 1997: "I would like to see at least *another* $100,000 added to this pilot project fund not only for its execution, but to finance the full-time participation of the cryobiologist in the Prometheus Project and the initiation of detailed planning efforts for it." and at that time this full-time participation was agreed to and eagerly sought by those with whom I was working to get Greg Fahy located in Southern California fulltime, this is no longer the case. It is my understanding that Greg has or will soon sign an employment contract with 21CM which will not allow him to consult for any other research entity doing similar work (a competitor, to use the terminology of 21CM). This employment contract will formally preclude Greg from being the Director of Research for the Prometheus Project. I *am* intent on carrying on this year while the HBSP takes place (on which Greg is being "allowed" to work under very special arrangements, if we can reach agreement on those arrangements) doing what I can to produce its natural continuation and finding out if there is some reasonable way for this to happen and eventually become the full-fledged research effort that was originally planned for Prometheus. In any case, even if research cannot be carried on beyond this year by any entity with which I am related, I personally plan to carry on promoting suspended animation research and its revolutionary applications to the best of my ability until it is accomplished. > My interest in research remains as strong > as ever. I am glad to here that. I am sure that 21CM can make use of your writing skills. > The hippocampal brain slice project is really quite exciting, Yes, I think that it is *very* exciting. To quote Peter Gouras an eye/vision research scientist, donor and Director of IONC (it's from a private communication, but I don't think he will mind), "it is absolutely first rate." > but I can't help feeling uneasy about the way your Project is run, so > long as people such as Hardy&Hardy are playing a significant role. I believe that you and others have quite insufficient grounds for such a judgment.However, I have bowed to the reality of people's fear of the strange, different and unknown. Allen and Loren Hardy no longer have any special role with Prometheus beyond being the pledgers they have been since 1996. They remain my friends and confidants. If you wish to judge me by that, so be it. -- Paul -- Voice/Fax: 909-481-9620 Page: 800-805-2870 The Prometheus Project -- http://prometheus.morelife.org Perfected Suspended Animation for Patient Stabilization until Cures for Their Terminal Diseases are Available Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9222